Chandigarh, April 11: Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal has expressed gratitude to Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi, on behalf of the farmers of the state; for relaxation in the uniform specifications of wheat during procurement season 2023-24, in view of lustre loss or shriveled and broken grains in Rabi crops, especially wheat crop, due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms.

The Chief Minister said that in view of the problems faced by the farmers, he spoke to the Union Minister for Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs over telephone; who assured that the government would relax the procurement norms for wheat. In this regard, a circular to this effect has been issued by the Central Government. He said that farming is such a business which always involves risk and the farmer remains in uncertainty until the crop reaches his house from the farms.

The Chief Minister said that coincidentally a similar time was witnessed in 2015, when unseasonal rains in the month of February had caused damage to the wheat crops. At that time, the state government had given a compensation of Rs 1,190 crore to the farmers and that too before May-June.

He said that for this year too, the work of Girdawari for crop loss is underway and the e-Fasal Kshatipurti portal is also open, where farmers can upload their crop loss information. The compensation will be given to the farmers after verification by the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department and the Revenue and Disaster Management Department; and this time also, full compensation will be provided to the farmers by May.

The Chief Minister said that the government is standing with the farmers at every step. Each grain of wheat will be procured at the rate of Rs 2125 per quintal. He said that Haryana is the only state in the country where farmers are paid for their crop procurement within 48 to 72 hours.